City Council is priced out of its own facility

The council tried to rent a meeting room at the city's Pali Golf Course and wound up with a state facility at a tenth of the cost

Even the Honolulu City Council couldn't get respect when it tried to rent a meeting room at the city's Pali Golf Course and wound up with a state facility at a tenth of the cost.

"So I asked them if we could just stand in the parking lot of the Pali Golf Course," Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi chuckled yesterday. "Maybe they were short $750 (in the budget) so they're charging us."

Kobayashi's Budget Committee oversees the golf course's budget.

Kobayashi originally wanted to hold the next Budget Committee informational briefing on the budget on Thursday at the golf course's ballroom. But the rent was too high for the Council budget -- $750, she said.

Windward Community College offered the Council discounted rates on the Kaneohe campus.

"Because they are city and county and because also they are part of our government ... they did qualify for an affiliated rate," said Karen Quimoyog, who handles renting of campus facilities.

"Isn't that nice of them?" Kobayashi said. "At least they recognize that. It's nice to be acknowledged as a government agency."

Quimoyog said that rates are normally $25 per hour. Kobayashi said the Council is renting the room for $15 an hour and that the meeting will last about five hours for a total of $75.

Sid Quintal, director of the Department of Enterprise Services, which oversees the city golf courses, said that the rental of the ballroom falls to the food concessionaire at the golf course.

"We did go back to the concessionaire and see if they could re-examine their rates. They did drop it to $500," Quintal said. "If the state can offer something for less of an expense to the City Council, then they're saving in their budget."

Quintal said the rental fee would have helped defray the costs associated with running the facility such as air conditioning, electricity and having staff available. Plus, there was some "ambiguity" in exactly what the Council needed for its meeting.

"We're examining what happened here, but for the most part, we just can't do things for free anymore," Quintal said, adding that he and the concessionaire need to stay within their budgets and contract.

Quintal said the same message also goes for other city agencies.

Quintal said that when city agencies pay for the use of city facilities, the money stays with the city, but if the money goes to an outside entity, it is gone from the city coffers.

Kobayashi said that the Council did not want something for nothing.

"Windward has the same costs. They have to pay for water, electricity and all that and janitorial, and so that's why there's a charge. We were willing to pay for that," she said.

Kobayashi said the lesson learned here: "The city is very short on money."